Wonders Never Cease
by kepulver
Summary: A Valentne's Discussion between Paige Adams and Low Light. The romance bit is mainly because it's set on V-Day and the PG is because..well...I dunno, but it's there. Originally a GI Joe Fanfic Bootcamp exercise in character development.


T'was the night of Valentine's Day and all through the base, not a cupid was stirring. Which was just fine as far as Paige Adams was concerned. If she had to see another naked winged baby again she'd scream. Or shoot something. Probably shoot something.  
  
It wasn't so much that she hated Valentine's Day. In and of itself it was just another day, particularly since she wasn't dating anyone. Sure, she'd get a few nice cards from her family and maybe some chocolates from Grandma, but other than that it was just the day before Cheap Candy Day. Now that was a holiday worth getting excited about.  
  
No, it was more that she hated what Valentine's Day did to people. If they were with someone, they spent the days and weeks prior to V-Day obsessing about what to get their sweetie or where to go or what to do. If they weren't dating, it was even worse. Whine, whine, whine, my life sucks, I want a date, why don't I have someone? And god help you if you actually told them. Especially if you were actually able to diagram the reasons. Some people just couldn't take constructive criticism.  
  
Still, at least the Joes seemed to be fairly normal when it came to Valentine's Day. The couples hadn't flaunted their coupleness in front of anyone and those who were single seemed to at least have something resembling a grip on their self-esteem. Or, she thought as she remembered overhearing Shipwreck work his way through his little black book without much success, at least had very thick calluses on their egos.  
  
Paige herself hadn't done much of anything today, except pull a second shift watch for a fellow Greenshirt who'd wanted to take her boyfriend out for a night on the town. She frowned a bit as she remembered the look of gratitude mixed with pity on the other woman's face. "You're sure you don't have plans?" she'd said. "I mean, I'm really grateful that you can, but if you had other plans or something..."  
  
"No, really," Paige had said. 'It's cool; I'll cover for you tonight, you take over for me on Thursday."  
  
Luckily, the other Greenie was too excited about getting her night off to ask any more questions. A routine double-check with their supervisor and everything was set.  
  
So here she was, at shift end, heading back to the barracks and listening to the silence of the empty Pitt. Well, the almost silence. She could hear the sound of a TV faintly in the distance. Canned laughter echoed tinily off the walls as she drew closer.  
  
She stuck her head around the doorframe. One of the Joes, Low Light, was sitting there in the dark, still as if he were a doll as the TV flickered over his goggles. She recognized him from the shooting range. They'd rarely talked, he being only slightly more anti-social than she was. She glanced at the screen, where a little dark-haired girl stood talking to a pudgy blond boy. Her eyebrow went up as she noticed that the dark-haired girl's chest was open, showing off the blinking lights and faux-circuitry that signified "robot" in Hollywood.  
  
"What the heck are you watching?" Paige stepped further into the room, still staring at the screen. Something about it seemed familiar.  
  
Low Light sighed heavily. "Small Wonder," he said.  
  
Paige blinked, then made a face. "That stupid sitcom about the little girl robot who lived with that annoying suburban family? What, did you lose a bet?"  
  
"Very funny, Adams," Low Light said, his voice almost a growl. "I like it."  
  
"Uh-huh," Paige walked over and dropped into a chair, staring at the TV. "I used to watch this show when I was a kid. It came on in the afternoons after school. God, I can't believe I used to like this crap!"  
  
Low Light grunted, shifting slightly in his seat. "So leave," he said.  
  
"I am, I am." Paige didn't stand up; the train wreck on the TV was too enthralling. "I didn't think they were still showing this show."  
  
"They're not," Low Light said. "It's a tape. My girlfriend got some episodes from a friend of hers. S'a Valentine's thing."  
  
"Oh." It took a moment for Low Light's words to sink in, probably because on screen the pudgy boy was dressed as a black mustachioed villain, representing Leukemia. "...wait, did you say 'girlfriend'?"  
  
"Yes." Low Light actually growled this time. "What? Surprised?"  
  
Paige turned back from the screen. "Well, yeah," she said. "You're not exactly Mr. Warmth or Mr. Personality."  
  
"Gee, thanks," Low Light said, sarcasm dripped from his words like sweet honey. "Coming from you that's almost a complement."  
  
Paige smirked back at him. "Well, you're not," she said. "I figured you were just drowning your sorrows on V-Day. So, what's she like?"  
  
"None of your business, Adams," Low Light said. "D'you mind? I'm tryin' to watch this."  
  
"It's on tape," Paige said. 'It's not like you can't rewind it."  
  
Low Light growled again. "Fine," he said, pausing the tape with the remote. "What do you want to know?"  
  
"Well, for one thing, how come you're here and not with her?"  
  
"She's in North Dakota," Low Light said. "She's a game warden and she's working this week. We figured we'd hook up again in April for turkey season."  
  
"Mmm, romantic," Paige said, settling back in her chair. "And then what? You kick back and watch crappy sitcoms until dawn's early light?"  
  
Low Light smirked. "...we don't exactly watch 'em," he said.  
  
"What do you mean?" Paige asked.  
  
Low Light smiled, a predatory smile, a smile that had nothing of human kindness to it. "Let's just say I've got some very pleasant memories during which this episode was playing in the background and leave it at that," he said.  
  
Paige made a face. "Okay, okay," she said. "That's enough nightmare fuel for one night. Happy Valentine's Day, Low Light."  
  
"Happy Valentine's Day, Adams," Low Light said, settling back into his chair as Paige left.  
  
# # #  
  
Author's note: Yes, I was actually dorky enough to go out and look up episode guides for Small Wonder to find the details of the leukemia episode. I remembered seeing the episode back in the 80s, but wanted to double-check my facts. The title is "Luke and Ray"  
  
And yes, the hunting season information for North Dakota is accurate 'cause I looked it up, too. All Hail Kathy, Queen of the Dorks! 


End file.
